Sir Paul McCartney was back in Liverpool today for the annual LIPA graduation ceremony.

The Beatles star was on hand to honour the institute’s new Companions, who this year included Gemma Bodinetz, the artistic director of the Everyman and Playhouse theatres since 2003.

Among others from the arts and entertainment world receiving the accolade from Sir Paul – LIPA’s co-founder – today were Slade star Noddy Holder and Travis frontman Fran Healy.

The other five new Companions were four-time Grammy-winning record producer Hugh Padgham, music manager and founder of Quest Management Scott Rodger, theatre designer Conor Murphy, professor of applied and social theatre James Thompson and contemporary dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Phoenix Dance Theatre Sharon Watson.

Organisers of a major creative event in Woodbridge have announced this summer’s line-up – and an expansion of the festival.

As well as music and art, this year’s event will include a literary strand, featuring books about music, with the preview of a new work about The Beatles, featuring never seen before photos from the first years of Beatlemania.

The Woodbridge Art and Music Festival takes place over the weekend of August 8 and 9 with acts ranging from festival headliners to cult club DJs, pioneering electronic acts from the 1960s, inspirational hip hop artists, visual artists, disco dons, guitar icons, psychedelic rockers, and talks by authors.

Ben Osborne, event organiser and founder of music and art collective Noise of Art, said: “The festival will be holding its debut literary strand on the Sunday of this year’s festival weekend.

“The literary strand will feature books about music, including a yet-to-be-released special edition book of new Beatles photographs, and the biographies of Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks by Zoe Howe, and Peter Gabriel by Daryl Easlea, plus a book at bedtime session for younger festival-goers between 4.30pm and 6pm.

Brad Hughes doesn’t need any “help” when it comes to his obsession with everything Beatles. The 14-year-old from Lisarow has been on the “long and winding road” to collect everything and anything to do with The Beatles because there’s “something” he just loves about them.

It all started when Brad, aged about 8, and his dad, Simon, were on a “day tripper” in the car and Brad heard a Beatles CD for the first time. Since then and “with a little help from his friends”, mostly his parents, he has managed to amass one of the largest collections of Beatles memorabilia this side of Liverpool­, England­.

“Dad was a musician and a Beatles fan,” Brad said. “I heard a CD in the car and it all started from there.” He won’t nominate a favourite Beatle – he has a soft spot for George and John – and he won’t say which era of Beatles music he likes the best.

ARTIST CREATES THOUGHT PROVOKING COMIC STRIP ILLUSTRATING THE LYRICS TO JOHN LENNON’S CLASSIC SONG ON WORLD PEACE.

Pablo Stanley has used his illustration skills to create a visual representation of John Lennon’s 1971 song, “Imagine.” The comic strip he created depicts lyrics from the song imploring the listener to “imagine there’s no heaven,” “no countries,” “no religion.” Legendary activists for change are depicted such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Harvey Milk, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

These days, Freda Kelly leads an uncomplicated life. Every morning, she drives from her home in the Wirral to a legal firm in Birkenhead, where she is secretary to one of the senior partners. She starts her working day at 9am, dealing with legal files, setting up appointments, liaising with mental health tribunals and typing up letters at a steady speed of 50wpm. On her desk, the stapler is labelled with her name in case anyone should be tempted to claim it as their own. She has been working here for 21 years.

Of late, Freda, 68, has found herself at the centre of some unexpected attention. She finds this baffling. "I mean," she says with a slight shake of the head, "who wants to hear the secretary's story?"

In the case of this particular secretary, hundreds of thousands of people around the world would be a conservative estimate. Because Freda Kelly isn't just any old secretary. For a period of 11 years from 1962, she was, in fact, secretary to the Beatles. This month, she is the subject of a new documentary, Good Ol' Freda, in which she gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into the 20th century's most famous band. Despite the acres of print and miles of footage that have been devoted
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Paul McCartney and Wings’ Red Rose Speedway, released on April 30, 1973, was supposed to be a double album — something indicative of a band at the peak of its powers. Instead, not long after, Wings disintegrated, with both drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough leaving.

It was as shocking as the resulting studio effort was uneven. Seiwell, already a rock-steady vet, had been with Paul McCartney since 1971’s Ram, creating a sturdy backbone for the early days of Wings that followed. The free-spirited McCullough had joined in time for the group’s biggest early successes, including the charttopping “My Love” and the Bond theme “Live and Let Die.” But When one domino fell, it seemed, they both did. McCartney, wife Linda McCartney and stalwart Denny Laine were left to move on with sessions in Lagos for what would become the multi-platinum Band on the Run.

The Beatles were always known for being a bit playful with the general public. Making a film about how popular they are, doing an impromptu gig on the top of Apple Corps (heck, naming their record company Apple Corps), and that whole palava about being bigger than Jesus, they always knew how to toy with the press and their fans. They even admitted to having experimented with tea… and biscuits.

But their public persona was just part of their cheekiness. The band’s entire discography, particularly that which came out after they decided to quit touring and commit to the recording booth, is chock full of in-jokes, shout-outs and other cool tidbits explicitly snuck in there for their fanbase to obsess over decades into the future.

There are, of course, all the call-backs to earlier songs that are always good for a smile – in I Am The Walrus John Lennon instructs you to “See how they fly like Lucy in the sky” and All You Need Is Love ends in a (somewhat impromptu) rendition of She Loves You’s chorus. But they’re obvious to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Fab Four – there’s much more hidden in their songs than th
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Eerie. Mystical. Hallucinatory. Numerous words have been used to describe “Blue Jay Way,” one of George Harrison’s Magical Mystery Tour contributions. A kind of sibling to “I Am the Walrus” with its eerie string arrangement, the track represents Harrison’s continued growth as a songwriter and his willingness to experiment with avant-garde structure and themes.

“Blue Jay Way” originated from a rather mundane situation. George Harrison and wife Pattie Boyd, Neil Aspinall, and Alexis Mardas (better known as “Magic Alex”) were visiting California. They were staying at a rented house in the Hollywood hills on a street called — yes — “Blue Jay Way.” One day, Beatles publicist Derek Taylor was driving to meet them at the house, but had gotten lost in the Los Angeles canyon fog. Bored, Harrison jotted down his thoughts to ward off ennui and, frankly, stay awake.

“To keep myself awake, just as a joke to pass the time while I waited, I wrote a song about waiting for him in Blue Jay Way,” Harrison explained in 1968. “There was a little Hammond [S-6] organ in the corner of this house which I hadn’t noticed until then
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Choosing the most popular Beatles songs of all time among the countless hit records they have made is indeed risky business. We all have that sweet spot for some special Beatles song, right? But some of the band’s songs have received such widespread love that it is impossible to ignore their huge impact on the band’s career. They are the ones that are included in this list while ardently trying not to offend any Beatles fans here! Don’t be surprised to find out that at least one of them could also be found in the list of 10 Most Popular Songs of All Time.

Throughout the 60s the world had been dazzled by the undeniable popularity of the Beatlemania, and the “Fab Four” line-up Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr became international superstars after their brief stint in the Liverpool and Hamburg club circuit. Their brand of rock music laced with classical elements became the talk of the town, and soon they became the leading artists of the “British invasion” in America. And 1965 onwards there was no looking back as they continued producing one hit album after the other, including Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatl
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Young musicians were delighted when the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus rolled into Tallaght this week.

The bus doubles up as a mobile recording studio and gives young singers the chance to take a trip on a 'Magical Musical Tour'.While aboard the bus, students write, record and produce their own music song and videos.

Established 16 years ago by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, the bus will travel along a 'Long and Winding Road' to six different Music Generation Centres around Ireland. The 24-day Irish national tour will see the bus travel to 11 counties. Lindsey Lawlor (17) was one of the lucky few to board the bus in Tallaght. "We came in and got a tour of the bus. Then we wrote a song from scratch and made a music video," Lindsey said. "It's amazing. The facilities they have are just fantastic."

The nationwide tour took over a year to organise. "Some of the counties where we will stop have been running competitions to select the students who will get to go on board," tour coordinator Caroline Wynne said. The bus was parked in the wide open Library Square in Tallaght and will operate from a beach carpark in Donegal next month. "That's what Music Generation is about," Caroline said. "We go in to every county
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